Israel

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening of the 2025 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

In Sudan, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Clementine Nkweta-Salami, today condemned the relentless and intensifying shelling and air and drone strikes against civilians in Darfur, Kordofan and other conflict-affected areas as “a ruthless assault on human life”.

The following statement was issued today by the Bureau of the General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:

In Haiti, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that clashes this week between security forces and armed groups on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince resulted in a wave of people trying to flee. The International Organization for Migration says more than 1,600 people have now been displaced.

In Ukraine, local authorities and humanitarians on the ground report that an attack in the residential area of Sumy City overnight resulted in a number of fatalities. Humanitarian partners mobilized an emergency response, complementing the efforts of first responders and the authorities.

Nearly half the population in Myanmar lives below the poverty line and less than 48 per cent had access to electricity last year — the lowest access rate in Asia, according to a UN Development Programme report released today highlighting the severe challenges dramatically reshaping the country.

The implementation of Isreal’s legislation on 30 January — curtailing the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — will undermine the ceasefire and sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition, a senior UN official told the Security Council today.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Emergency Relief Coordinator allocated $17 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for an urgent response to new displacement in North and South Kivu Provinces in the eastern part of the country.

In Nigeria, the United Nations and our humanitarian partners today launched the 2025 response plan in Abuja, calling for $910 million. This year’s plan aims to reach 3.6 million people in the north-east with health services, food, water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition for children, protection, education and other vital support.

Meeting a week after a ceasefire paused the war in Gaza, after it raged for almost 470 days, the Security Council discussed the plight of children, with speakers calling for their needs to be prioritized, through the rebuilding of educational infrastructure, the provision of psychosocial support and ensuring a surge of humanitarian aid to the Strip.